The Convoluted Legal Case For Reparative Therapy

If there is one thing that we learned by the Pacific Justice Institute’s lawsuit against California Gov. Jerry Brown, and anyone in his orbit remotely connected to a new law banning “ex-gay” therapy for minors, is that these lawyers are as logic challenged and convoluted as the industry they are poorly defending.

For example, they disingenuously write, “…while the Plaintiffs generally agree that they practice reparative therapy in at least some senses of the words, they do not concede that they are “seeking” to “change” anyone’s sexual orientation.”

That’s some impressive judicial jujitsu, considering the same lawyers reference the term Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) multiple times in their legal brief. Like when they write, “SB 1172 deprives parents of this right, and hinders them from fulfilling their responsibilities, by prohibiting mental health professionals from offering “sexual orientation change efforts” to minors.”

The second fascinating argument is made on behalf of Dr. Anthony Duk, who feigns concern for equal rights. According to the legal brief:

If a minor’s objectives are to bring his or her sexual conduct and desires into conformity with the religious traditions, cultural norms, and moral standards of the minor, Dr. Duk can provide treatment so long as the minor is heterosexual…Dr. Duk is therefore required to discriminate against minor patients for no other reason than their sexual orientation.

Of course, the real discrimination comes from the fact that such quackery is only offered to LGBT clients because such biased therapists consider homosexuality to be immoral. If the good doctor were genuinely concerned about equality, he would have long offered his services to turn heterosexuals into homosexuals. But as far as I can tell, that service is not on the menu.

Speaking of Dr. Duk, I have some serious questions about his practice. It appears from the lawsuit that he might support or participate in the barbaric practice of chemical castration to lower the sex drives of otherwise healthy LGBT people. This is what the lawsuit says:

“In the event of a patient seeking to gain a stronger level of control over sexual behaviors, desires, and addictions such as pornography, treatment can include prescription drugs to help control sexual drive, sometimes referred to as libido, in addition to counseling…However, under the statute in question, a minor who has unwanted same sex behaviors or attractions cannot be treated with either counseling or prescription medications.”

It seems that reparative therapy is so impotent, that clients must be drugged into impotence for these quacks to claim success. I fully hope that lawyers vigorously cross-examine Dr. Duk over his possible abuse and unethical use of pharmaceuticals to lower the sex drives of his clients.

The lawsuit goes on to state: “SB 1172 purports to prevent minors, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning youth, from accessing mental health services and treatment designed to address self-perceived needs to alter sexual desires.”

Of course, these lawyers fail to point out that all medical and mental health associations say that homosexuality is not a mental illness. So why would youth seek to heal themselves when they are not sick, or get fixed when they are not broken? Maybe because these vulnerable and desperate LGBT youth were made to feel guilty and ashamed and referred to as sexually broken by the reparative therapy industry. Once they feel lower than dirt, they are easy prey for avaricious charlatans who offer to “help” but provide nothing but harm.

Perhaps the height of arrogance in the lawsuit comes when the Pacific Justice Institute writes, “The statute makes no attempt to define ‘family rejection.’”

What I suggest is that these vultures visit any number of shelters for LGBT homeless youth in Los Angeles. They can see firsthand the destitution of gay teenagers who are discarded by “loving” religious parents.

Furthermore, the lawsuit makes the critical mistake of conflating sexual abuse with sexual orientation. I have spoken to a number of scientists about this topic and feel confident that this argument will be obliterated in court. There is simply no cause and effect between abuse and orientation.

The lawsuit also says that SB1172 “would directly curtail the religious expression of members of the clergy who are also mental health professionals.” This is a load of nonsense because reparative therapy claims that homosexuality is caused by sexual abuse or parental neglect. The bizarre cure involves clients forming non-sexual same-sex friendships, as well as behavioral modification, such as snapping a rubber band to cause a sting on the wrist when sexually tempted.

These scoundrels conveniently vacillate between quasi-religion and pseudo-research. But their outlandish theories are supported in neither Scripture nor science, making it difficult to win on claims of religious discrimination or medical necessity. It seems the legal case for reparative therapy is even weaker than the actual failed therapy itself.

About the Author

Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

13 Comments

This has absolutely nothing to do with the health and well-being of minors. It has to do with a select group of licensed parasites who treat GLBT children and their parents as a cost center. This is about making money, pure and simple.

Gary (NJ)October 3, 2012 at 11:01 am -

Someone has to state the obvious quip here:
Duk is a quack.

Priya LynnOctober 3, 2012 at 12:07 pm -

Michael, its not just about money, its about providing an excuse for anti-gay laws. They point to this “therapy” and say “See, gays can change into heterosexuals so we don’t need the law to accomodate gays.”.

So far, everyone who supports this process has claimed a 100% failure rate. No one can produce any gay person changed to a hetero. Even the guys who claimed they successfully went through the process say that it didn’t really work; that they’re faking it.

Meanwhile, this boils down to faith healing. They claim that mere reliance on finding Jesus will be the “cure.” Parents are not allowed to use just “faith” to “cure” cancer or other life imperiling diseases; courts step in and order real medical care. These people claim “homosexuality” is a life threatening (and society threatening) disease, and the kids can, should, and must be cured by faith alone. Aren’t they now asking courts to allow them to step in with supposed “real” medical care, which has been proved fake?

Paul McOctober 4, 2012 at 9:09 am -

Not to make this about individual, however, the evidence of an ex-gay therapy survivor was critical in Prop8. These guys have someone who will testify in defense of this therapy apparently. I looked him up.

He seems like a nice guy and does a really worthwile job but I feel sorry for him and nervous about the impact this case will have on his life. It’s going to get ugly.

JamesOctober 4, 2012 at 12:14 pm -

I love how in the article I read, they say that they “cured” thousands of gay people. Let me tell you something. Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I went through this “therapy” and it did not work for me. However, because I completed it, they put my name down as someone who was “cured”. After realizing that I was not cured at all, I went back and told them, but they refused to take my name off the list.

So my name is on one of those lists, and its being shown to all the poor new “patients” coming in for “treatment”, even though I made it clear that my name should not be on that list.

So there’s their “thousands” of people…since they’re so SURE about that, then why dont they get these thousands of people to come testify on their behalf? Cuz they know those people really weren’t “cured”…

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